The Last Charge of the 1st Legion (The Last Hero Trilogy Book 3)

by Nathaniel Danes

  “Permission granted, corporal. And … thank you. Both of you.”

  “Just be sure to kill this son-of-a-bitch, sir.” She jerked her head. “Now get out of here!”

  Trent, Amanda, and Jones caught up with their two point-men.

  “Keep moving,” Trent said, waving them on. “Keep going down this way.” He whipped his head around. “We need to find a way to the tenth level. That’s dead center of the ship and where the core is.”

  “Okay.” Amanda huffed. “How do we do that? I’m guessing an elevator isn’t an option.”

  “Remember the access shafts Hal told us about. They run the height of the ship. We find one of them and we can walk to the core.”

  “And how do we find one of them?”

  Detonations from where they came froze the conversation for a moment.

  Trent accelerated. “Fast, that’s how.”

  They sprinted around corners in random fashion, desperate to get separation from their pursuers,

  Each corridor looked the same, Trent wasn’t sure if they were running in circles, mere steps from their destination or running right into an ambush.

  “Hold up!” He raised his hand, causing the group to stop. They stayed silent for several seconds, listening for death. Only their pounding hearts and deep breaths could be heard. “We need to slow down to look for the way up.”

  Jones put her hand on the wall. “Split up. One per wall. Drag your hand and run a full power scan. Maybe we can penetrate deep enough to find what we’re looking for.” She looked at Trent. “You stay here with the Pills, sir. We’ll check out this hall for thirty meters in both directions and come back to you before moving onto the next section.”

  He nodded. “Good idea, colonel.”

  They searched a number of corridors and found nothing but solid walls or small cavities that were most likely dead-end rooms. Trent spent much of the time thinking about the race that had built this incredible vessel. He wished he had had more time to question Hal about them. He promised himself he would one day—assuming he was successful here and on the Bearcat home world.

  The thought of the other pyramid knotted his gut. I don’t think I can do this again. It certainly won’t be easy to convince anyone to join me. Or maybe not? That damn ship is probably on its way here right now. Drawn to the Pills by some irrational lust. If an AI is even capable of such a thing. He shut his eyes. Don’t worry about that. That’s tomorrow’s problem. Stop the killing on Earth today.

  “I think I got something.” Amanda’s voice said over the unit channel.

  The group converged on her position, planting their palms onto her wall.

  “I see it.” Jones laid her other hand on the wall. “A big vertical room with a ramp spiraling up.”

  “Start cutting.” Trent looked down the corridor. “We don’t have much time.”

  Sparks flew as the plasma torches went to work. The interior plating made for quicker work. For a second, it looked like they were in good shape.

  Bang, bang, bang hit their eardrums like an evil omen.

  Jones readied her weapon. “Faster!”

  Amanda shook her head. “We’re going as fast as we can.” The other two enlisted soldiers cut from the floor up as she worked on the arch. “We need more time.”

  “Then we’ll buy you time.” Trent unhooked the pouch containing the Pills and set it down next to Amanda. “You know what to do if we don’t come back.”

  “I love you.” She didn’t take her eyes off her work.

  ***

  The thunderous march came up a single corridor. Trent and Jones had their MRG’s aimed squarely on their point of intersection.

  Bang, bang, bang! The pounding of their steps grow louder.

  “It’s been an honor, colonel.”

  “Don’t you get sentimental on me, general. I’m not planning on dying here.”

  He smiled to himself. A hard-ass warrior to the end.

  Bang, bang, bang!

  Trent clipped off an arm that led around the corner. A mass of silver came into view. He continued to dismember the upper body while Jones crippled its thick legs with grenades. The bulky drone collapsed in the corridor, flaring its useless body in a spasm of movements.

  The weight of the attacking drones pushed their comrade along the floor. A metal on metal screech sent goosebumps sprouting all over his skin.

  It was like shooting ducks in a barrel. The lead attacker didn’t even have time to fire back before its chest burst open, adding its scrap to the mounting barricade, which lurked forward more slowly with each kill.

  Numbers weren’t on their side, however. The enemy had more mindless soldiers that it was willing to throw away than Trent and Jones had the ammo to destroy.

  She shouldered her rifle. “I’m down to my last mag of grenades.”

  “Me, too!”

  The screeching stopped. The silence was deafening,

  The enemy pulled back and raked the dead with their weapons, turning them to slag.

  He opened a channel with Amanda. “Are you about ready? It’s gonna get hairy here in a minute.”

  “You might burn your ass, but we’ll be ready to squeeze through in thirty.”

  “We’re on our way!”

  They left the enemy behind, but it felt like they were still nipping at his heels.

  The ramp took them to the tenth level, where another door blocked their access. They went to work on it and again heard the ominous bang, bang, bang of the approaching enemy.

  Sergeant Emanuel Loudermilk and Private Pamela Valis left to hold back the horde long enough for the mission to proceed.

  Explosions, bangs, screeches, and screams emanated from below the shaft like a pipeline pumping up horrors. He never saw them again, but they hadn’t sold their lives cheaply and the mission went on.

  ***

  This level was different. While it looked the same, it felt odd, like it somehow didn’t belong there. He didn’t have time to stop and ponder these sensations. They were close to the core but not there yet.

  Amanda trailed a step behind him. “What door? I’m not seeing any!”

  “The core takes up this entire level. Hal said there were only a couple doors and all of them should take us there.”

  Finding one, they got to cutting. These doors were thicker than the last ones.

  Hot flecks ricocheted off Trent’s helmet. “We’re not gonna make it at this rate. And we don’t have the ammo to make a real stand somewhere.”

  Amanda stopped cutting and stood. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out a roll of demo tape. “I knew this would come in handy.”

  His eyes lit up. “I knew I loved you for a reason.”

  Jones cleared her throat. “Bloody hell! Are you two going to shag or are you going to lay that tape out?”

  He traded the roll for the sack and ran down the corridor.

  “Wait!” She rushed toward him. “Take some of my grenade clips. Be safe.”

  He nodded and continued on.

  At the first point of contact, he laid out a third of the explosives. The rest were placed at random intervals.

  Bang, bang, bang! The drum beat of the enemy charge echoed down the hall.

  Keeping a sharp eye on the first trap, he detonated the makeshift mine when the drones were on top of it.

  Bam!

  A shockwaves rocketed through the tight space, shaking the solid walls and spreading thick smoke everywhere. Several wrecked drones littered the passage. A few crippled ones twisted on the floor, trying in vain to stand up.

  Taking careful aim, he zeroed in on the first healthy drone in the queue and brought it down with a stream of four grenades. He managed to add another one to the heap before they offered counter-fire, forcing him to retreat.

  Trent conducted a fighting withdrawal using the other strips of demo tape. The tactic proved effective in slowing them down. Finally, Amanda’s voice popped into his head. “Get your ass over here!”

  “On my
way.”

  He found Amanda standing at the hole by herself. “Where’s Jones?”

  “She’s already inside, looking for the other doors and spot-welding them shut.”

  Dropping to his knees, he crawled in. What he found on the other side took his breath away.

  ***

  Alien control stations were the first thing he saw from his position on the floor. Once on his feet, he was confronted with the sensation of being physically pulled toward the singularity, a void of the deepest black he’d ever seen. It encompassed almost his entire view. A thin path on the room’s perimeter bordered a giant clear barrier that appeared to enclose the black holes in a fish-tank type structure.

  Amanda stood next to him in stunned silence for long seconds before muttering, “My God.” She took off to help seal them inside the room.

  He continued to stare into the emptiness. It had a hypnotic effect, a new kind of beauty he couldn’t explain even to himself. After a minute, he realized it wasn’t as empty as he first thought. Waves—ripples was a better term—floated across the outside of the core.

  He felt his mind bend, adjusting to a new paradigm. The ripples began to form recognizable patterns. Places, faces, and objects he both knew and had no memory of. He heard a faint unrecognizable whisper.

  “Amanda?” He turned three hundred sixty degrees to find himself alone. The visions became clearer, the voices louder. A piercing headache sent him to his knees. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could. “What’s happening to me?”

  A flashing icon let him know Sweetie was working on the answer. “I suspect you are experiencing trauma from intense gravity exposure.”

  “It doesn’t—oohh!” He clasped the side of his helmet. “Feel that intense. I can stand against it.”

  “Answer unknown. The gravity levels I’m registering should’ve ripped you apart at the atomic level. Your brain waves are being affected disproportionally from the rest of your body.”

  “Are Amanda and Jones okay?”

  “Unknown. I have lost communication with them.”

  Bang, bang, bang! The enemy was at the final gate and would melt their way through soon enough. Time was running out.

  He forced himself to his feet. Using all of his strength, he pried his eyelids open. Gotta complete the mission.

  “Sweetie, bring up the core control room data Hal gave us.”

  Images and instructions appeared on his HUD, making sense of the foreign panels in front of him.

  He sucked in a deep breath and powered through the sharp pain slicing into his temples. “Show me...how to open the outer containment barrier.”

  “Warning. That will cause the gravitational affects to increase. I am ill-equipped to protect you from them.”

  “We’re way past the point of playing it safe. Just show me.”

  His HUD highlighted a series of icons to push on the control panels. He followed the instructions and a blaring alarm sounded. One final step would open the doorway to two intermixed black holes fighting one another for dominance.

  Holding the spherical container out with both hands, he twisted and turned it like a Rubik’s Cube. A hiss and puff of gas signaled it was open. Removing the top half, he found two white balls sitting in slots. He tried picking one up with his finger but they slipped off. He tried again but the same thing happened.

  What the? Are they magnetically locked in or something?

  Rolling the under half of the container in his hand, he saw the Pills move slightly. Fixing one in place with his palm, he tipped the container, spilling the free Pill out. The Pill struck his hand. “Holy shit!” It almost knocked him over with its weight.

  The effort required to simply hold the Pill took a good deal of strength. Whatever this thing was, it was extremely dense and the container had been masking its real mass. He closed the container and put it away. Hido, the next one is for you.

  “Here we go.”

  He activated the door. A final warning of purple lights flashed over it.

  A flood of gravity surged into the room, striking him like a truck before taking hold and yanking him forward. The force was so great it triggered the neck of his suit to stiffen, avoiding whiplash or fractured vertebra.

  Flying toward the crushing power of the black holes, he reached out on reflex with his left hand, catching the edge of the door. His body was straight as a rail, toes pointed to the heart of the singularity. He couldn’t let go of the Pill and let it zoom into the gravity well. It wasn’t that simple.

  Hal instructed him to send the Pill into the core on a specific trajectory, which could be established by a precise point of release.

  The pain in his skull grew unbearable. A chorus of loud voices screamed in his ears. Consciousness threatened to slip away. Summoning every ounce of strength, he focused his mind on one task, getting outside the containment wall.

  “Aaahh!” He willed his elbow to bend, bringing himself closer to the edge. The Pill was secured in his balled right fist, which he dragged to his chest and punched forward, hooking it around the frame. With leverage on his side, he crawled around it.

  Pinned to the barrier a meter off the floor, exhausted, nerves bursting with pain, and hallucinating, his eyes shut and the blackness took over.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Love is Eternal

  Rustling leaves, a cool breeze, and soft blades of grass tickling his palms were what Trent remembered first. He opened his eyes to see clear blue skies overhead.

  What? Impossible.

  Adrenaline pumped into his arteries, propelling him to a fighting position. Darting eyes zipped in every direction, looking for threats and trying to make sense of the situation. All he saw was grass, a cluster of trees behind him, and corn fields. It had the feeling of home, and his heart slowed.

  I’m in Iowa? How is that possible? Even if I somehow got off the ship, we were in Africa. Oh, my God! Amanda and Jones! Where are they?

  Fear exploded inside him, turning his gut into a bottomless pit. He lifted his head. “Amanda! Amanda! Jones! Anybody!”

  He sprinted to the trees, running along the line, sweeping the interior with his razor-sharp vision. “Amanda!”

  “She is alive,” a feminine voice called out. “Both of them are fine for now.”

  He spun around, searching for the source. “Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here?”

  Giggles in the corn pulled him toward the tall green stocks. “Who’s there? Why are you laughing?” He patrolled the edge of the field, staring down each row. Disturbed leaves led him to his target. His eyes expanded to their fullest, and his heart skipped a beat—several, in fact.

  “How...whaaa?” His mind scrambled trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

  “I’m laughing because you already know the answers to most of your questions.” Anna was standing before him. “I’m your daughter and this is your home. Well, a mile up the road from the homestead, to be exact.”

  Anna? He couldn’t process it. She looked like he remembered after returning from the Big Red mission—young, vibrant, and beautiful. It was impossible. Everything about this was impossible.

  “I’m hallucinating. You’re not real. I remember seeing things and hearing them before I blacked out. You’re just in my head.”

  Her sundress flapped in a soft breeze. She smiled wide, pinning a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “Yes, I am in your head, but I am also very much real.”

  He maintained an on-guard stance. “I don’t understand. How did I get here?”

  “Remember what Hal told you?” She walked on the grass barefoot. “The gravitational force of two black holes dueling one another for supremacy warps more than just time.” She clawed her hand. “It rips at the very fabric of reality. Your headache was caused by your brain trying to make sense of something it wasn’t designed to interpret.

  “When you opened the outer containment field, you unleashed that force upon the immediate area, further w
eakening the membranes that separate dimensions and allowing them to bleed into each other.”

  She sat on a log and patted the space next to her. “Please sit. Moments like this are extremely rare. I don’t want to waste it.”

  His muscles released. If this was real, great. If not, why ruin a good dream? “Are Amanda and Jones here?”

  She shook her head. “They’re unconscious but haven’t crossed over like you. They’re too far from the breach.”

  His body jerked straight. “Am I dead?”

  “No.” She laughed. “Your physical form is stressed but functional. This meeting is only possible because of a temporary tear between our planes of existence and our connection.

  “As you knew, one of the most fundamental laws of nature is that energy can never be destroyed, only transformed. The human body itself is abuzz with self-generated electrical currents. Our consciousness, our soul, if you will, is energy, and upon the death of our physical form, it is transformed.”

  She clapped her hands together. “Emotional bonds also have their own energy. The bonds between parent and child are the strongest, and this is why I am able to connect with you.”

  “Your mother?” The whites of his eyes grow large at the prospect of seeing his late wife.

  She placed a hand over his. “I’m sorry. The hole isn’t big enough for you two to speak. She told me to give you her best.” A grin crossed her face. “She also wanted me to tell you she approves of Amanda. She likes her.”

  “You can watch us?”

  “Yes. Ours is a higher plane from which we can look down.”

  “You mean … heaven, right?”

  Her head bobbed. “That’s a gross simplification, but close enough without delving into philosophy and quantum mechanics to describe a universe of pure energy.”

  He stared deep into her eyes, accepting this reality. “So it’s really you.” Tears rolled down both their cheeks as he took her face into his hands. “My little girl.”

  Throwing their arms around each other, they squeezed tight. The sensation felt as real as any hug. “It’s me, Daddy. I’ve missed you so much. I can’t tell you how proud of you I am. Everyone is so proud. Grandad makes sure everyone knows you’re his son. He stayed behind to give us this moment alone. He said he’ll see you soon enough anyway.”